Brief Recap:The party made their way through the snow to Heklamar to find it under seige. They were attacked by three knights and one wyvern rider.

Seige of Heklamar

Githyanki knights hear the warning cry of the grisnaga (wyvern rider) flying above, and charge the party. Still using their standard combat procedures even against these non-psionic humans, one of the knights reserves his mental strength to defend the three of them against mind attacks, while the other two prepare to unleash mind blasts as soon as their targets are in easy range. Their enemy, a group of six on horseback, are visible on the edge of some trees ahead.

As they draw to within thirty meters of their target and begin their mind blasts, a cloaked figure springs up from behind one of the knights and strikes all in one fluid motion, punching a blade through the seam of the knights curiass on the side of its chest, through one lung and the heart. The githyanki knight's eyes bulge from their sockets as the energy it was expending to perform the mind blast is disrupted, blood coming from its mouth. It slides off the cloaked figure's blade, dead before it hits the ground.

At that moment, one of the other Githyanki knights mind blasts the party. Because there are none of its own kind before him for a great distance, he unleashes an area effect mind blast, covering the entire party with the stunning force of the mind blast.

Everyone feels the effects of the blast, and every horse in the party but Bardock's and Ghotu's collapses. But Bardock himself is stunned, and he falls unconscious with his horse. By a stroke of luck, his leg does not fall under his mount, and he rolls free unharmed but badly stunned.

The rest of the party members leap from their mounts as they collapse beneath them. They shake off the effects of the mind blast, feeling a collective chill go up their spines.

Ghotu flings his javelin at the lead knight then kicks his horse gently once, and it springs forth from the trees. He draws his lance from its holster on the right side of the horse as he charges. The knight deflects the thrown javelin with the flat of its sword and moves toward ghotu, preparing to duck the spear.

But Ghotu's aim is dead on, and the lance point strikes the knight in the neck as Ghotu gallops past, the skewered knight on Ghotu's left. He rips the spear free as he passes and the knight falls.

Bronk sees that Bardock is relatively unharmed, and decides to engage the enemy. He charges forward on foot with his halberd held level before him aimed at the remaining githyanki. Bronk hacks downward, getting his body weight behind the blow. The blade strikes the knight in the midsection and buries itself deep in its chest.

Meanwhile, Bibi concentrates on the wyvern to cast her hold animal spell, but she can't make the spell work on the wyvern. She suspects that wyverns must be touched by magic, while her spell only works on mundane animals.

Humphrey casts a web spell into the snowy night sky as the wyvern passes toward them overhead. The beast is barely low enough for the spell to reach, and as the mass of liquid strands stretches upward, the wyvern instinctively pulls up and lets the buffeting winds carry it up and away from the web spell. The webs fall to the ground in the area between the edge of the trees and the place where Ghotu, Blade, and Bronk are.

Mog points his rod at the wyvern and casts magic missile. The bright missiles strike the wyvern in eight separate bursts and badly wound the animal. It halts its ascent as the rider struggles to regain control of the animal.

Humphrey points his staff at the stalling wyvern and incants: "Watt und Ampere, Volt und Ohm!" Lightning arcs from the gnarled end of Humphrey's staff and pierces the wyvern. The beast falls, the rider struggling to free himself from the saddle. The beast is high enough that it turns over once before it hits the rocky snowcovered ground, landing atop the still entangled rider. There is no movement from the ruined mass.

Bronk returns and tends to Bardock, who appears dazed but is slowly recovering. The party's horses cannot be revived by normal means, they appear comatose. [Bardock is unable to stand without help and is generally unaware of his surroundings, barely conscious, but he can walk with aid.]

The party scans the fields before them, full of the githyanki encampment. These must have been outlying sentries or a patrol. The mass of the camp is to the party's left, before the entrance of the city, but there appear to be torches everywhere between the party and the city, all the way up to the mountainside upon which the city is perched. The lower port section of the city is now occupied by the Githyanki force. Between the main body of the attacking army and the party is much broken terrain and cover. The party can probably get closer to the keep undetected, though there is no apparent way to get into the keep without going through the Githyanki.

Mog says, "Mog will consult the stones of the earth for a way into the keep." [Mog is spending a plot point to ensure success of this action.] The orc casts a lengthy spell, then lies flat on the ground for so long the rest of the party begins to think he may have fallen asleep. But he eventually stands and says, "The rocks tell of a passage into the keep that is not yet detected by the Githyanki, though it is guarded by humans from the city. It is over a mile behind us and runs along the cliff. Mog knows the way."

The party abandons the comatose horses [unless you have other options for reviving them from their comas] bringing only Bardocks (which they load with their baggage and lead) and Ghotu's horse, which he rides as a scout. They make their way back whence they came and toward the cliff, where Mog finds a rocky path leading steeply up the cliff wall.

Ghotu goes to Blades horse and after a cursory exam he tries to pour a potion down its throat. It just overflows out of its mouth. He looks at Bibi questioningly and pleadingly.

Bibi tries to mentally communicate with her horse to revive it. (if that does not work) She then casts a healing spell. She will also heal as many of the horses as she can. (She will not leave her horse until she has tried everything including using a stone and a plot point if needed.)

The Healing potion does not help the horses any. However, when Bibi casts her healing spell on her horse, the horse revives enough to stand. It is still weak and Bibi doesn't want to ride it, but it is able to be led along with the party. Mog and Bibi use their healing spells to revive the rest of the party's horses.

[The earlier paragraph where we leave them will be revised.]

The party follows the rock path into the cliffs, and it takes them up a great distance and through some tunnels, but eventually comes out at a level equal to the city plateau. As they round a bend they encounter human guards on watch there, who train their crossbows on the party. Mog quickly says, "We serve King Ozrik!"

One of the human guards says, "Who are you?"

Mog replies, "We are the Company of the Thorn, tasked by our King to investigate the giants to the north weeks ago, and sent to the north again to counter the githyanki threat. As you can see, we failed in that mission, and are finally back from distant lands to report dire news to the King."

"What news could be more dire than that which you see below on the plains?" asks the guard, still not lowering his crossbow.

"That is for the King's ears only. As proof of our service, we have papers bearing the King's seal granting us passage and all possible aid on our quest." [Ozrik gave us these the last time we saw him.] Mog pulls a scroll from his haversack and tosses the tube to the humans. They inspect the seal and the papers within, then lower their weapons.

"Come. I am Ulfdirk. I will lead you to the King."

The party is led to King Ozrik, and they report all that has occurred during the past several weeks since they left. [If you specifically want to omit anything of those events, you can tell me what you don't want to tell him so I will know. Otherwise I assume he knows of everything that happened.] The party tells him of the probable arrival of the githyanki Dark Queen and their failure to capture the obsidian stone in time. The King had already suspected our failure in that quest and does not dwell on it.

The King tells us of the past events in the Northern Kingdom. After we left, the King began movement of troops to oppose the threatened githyanki invastion. Thedrickstand Keep (the northernmost outpost of the Kingdom) was reinforced, but to no avail. The githyanki swept aside the resistance using unheard of magics or mental powers. Few survivors returned from the siege, which only lasted two days. Tens of thousands are believed killed.

The githyanki army moved south, driving all humans before them to Heklamar, which is now packed with refugees from the northern areas of the Kingdom. The siege of Heklamar is just beginning, and tomorrow will bring the first assault.

The defenses of the plateau city are much better than any other yet encountered by the githyanki. The limited approach to the city plateau (a narrow winding ramp) should prevent the githyanki from using their mind blasts as effectively as they were able to in earlier assaults.

After the King has apprised us of the military situation, he brings forth a scroll tube, saying, "This arrived a few days ago from a mage in Galay named Egmund." The seal (which is broken) is Egmund's, and the note is addressed to the King of the Northern Kingdom.

Ozrik says, "That message is actually meant for you, mage," he says indicating Humphrey. "It was only addressed to me to prevent others opening it, I believe." He hands Humphrey the note while he continues speaking. "It requests that Humphrey prepare himself for some kind of magic communication from Egmund as soon as you arrive, though it sounds like there is some planning involved. I have had the items you will need prepared, as near as we can tell from the note."

The note says that at midnight of each day Egmund will try to make contact with Humphrey via dreamspeech, a spell that allows communication across great distance through dreams. Humphrey must cast a preparatory spell to receive the message. This spell is inscribed on the note, for Humphrey to cast as a scroll. Humphrey can see that the other preparations for the spell (inscriptions and material the components which Ozrik has provided) will take several hours to prepare. He will not be able to receive the message until the next evening, and it will take most of his time from now till then to make the necessary preparations.

Meanwhile the party is given quarters. Before they leave to take their rest, Ozrik says, "We expect them to attack at dawn. All able bodies will be on the city walls. Our archers have better range than their mental powers, but they have archers and spellcasters as well. Your help will be needed. Report to the Main Garrison before dawn for instructions. All except you, Humphrey. If this Egmund has useful information, we need it as quickly as possible.

The next morning, everyone but Humphrey reports at the Main Garrison, a tower situated behind the front gate and straddling the only entrance to the city proper. The adventurers are assigned a place on the wall near a ballista and told to defend the weapon against whatever attacks are brought against it while it is used to keep the githyanki infantry at bay. Meanwhile, Humphrey begins preparation for receiving the dreamspeech from Egmund.

The dawn is cloudy, and a crisp wind brings more snow over the city walls from the west. The githyanki march triple file up the winding ramp that approaches the city gates. When they are within range, catapults and ballistae are unleashed against them, clearing the ramp of the first ranks of knights off the ramp and smashing their bodies with large stones and spear-like missiles. After nearly an hour of trying to approach this way, with no success, the gith pull back and try another tactic. Soon, armored individuals that do not look like githyanki are put in the lead, holding great hoplite shields. They form a shield wall, and on the hoplites can be seen the crest of Thedrickstand Keep.

The adventurers hear soldiers on the wall say, "They're using captured humans as shields!" The heavily armored humans form a wall before the approaching githyanki infantry and take the brunt of catapult and ballista fire, which rains down on them mercilessly. They make their way to a spot within bowshot of the walls, and arrows begin to fly. Most of the humans and gith are slain by the massive volley of arrows, but some few survive. In a flash of light, a small stone bunker nearly flat with the ground appears and twenty of the gith knights make it into this bunker before they are killed. The rest of the attack force are killed or driven back down the ramp. This tactic is repeated twice more, and two more stone bunkers are magically created on the ramp within bowshot of the city walls. the characters can clearly see them from their vantage point near a central tower of the wall. [The characters are stationed just to the left of the front main gate on the wall, which leads into a closed area that is exited by passing through the Main Garrison tower.] Once three of the bunkers are in place, purple lines spring into existence between them, forming a "V" which points toward the front gate. Then the purple lines extend into the air to become translucent curtains of magic that extend beyond the bunkers on either side and several hundred feet high. A loud horn is blasted, then several more, and then the githyanki infantry make their assault in earnest. As they mount the ramp and approach, ballista and catapult missiles bounce off the purple curtain and fall harmlessly to the ground on the ramp and off either side. The infantry make it to the curtain with little loss.

Some of the knights stand in small groups, bowing their heads together. Several such groups form, and the party members feel the chill in their spines that indicates mental powers being used. One by one, the defenders on the wall slowly are targeted by the groups of gith below. Those that succumb to the mind attacks show it in various ways. Some fall unconscious, others scream and fling themselves over the wall, while others attack their comrades. Relatively few of the defenders are actually affected by this, but the moral of all on the wall is disturbed by this mode of attack.

Then the grisnaga, the githyanki flying on wyverns, attack. A company of twelve wyverns in a wedge formation climb high in the air to clear the purple curtain, and the swoop down toward the town walls in a nearly vertical drop, making arrow fire difficult.

The attack is focused on the position of the party, near the center of the wall. Several of the wyvern riders dive toward them.

Mog says to Bibi, "Mog will cast dispel magic on the purple curtain. If Bibi has a similar spell, we should combine our magic." If Bibi agrees and has Dispel Magic, Mog will wiat for her and cast his spell at the same time she does. If not, he casts it immediately on his own.

Bibi turns to Mog and nods in agreement and begins to cast dispel magic

. Mog will then cast paralyzation on the wyverns, hoping to get two of them at the same time if he can catch two of them close enough together (within 20 meters of each other).

Bibi then casts wall of fire just in front of the magical wall the giths are behind. She thinks that they are undead but she isn't certain.

Blade sheathes his swords, pulls a dagger from his bandolier and clenches it between his teeth as he moves to the edge of teh walll. He waits eagerly for the wyverns, calculating their speed and trajectories. As the first one nears, a volley of arrows, are launched towards it causing the wyvern to alter it course slightly and begin pull up from it's descent to avoid being struck. It's momentum carries it about 5 feet away from the edge of the tower as it struggles to pull out of it' s dive. Blade jumps off the ledge just before it it shoots past his position. After a very short, intense freefall, Blade manages to grab hold of the Githayanki riding the wyvern. They are in the middle of teh rider changing course of the weyvern from a downward trjectory to an upwrd one when Blade slams into the rider from behind.

{Plot Point to make sure I can do this and don't wind up a bloody mess below]

Blade will attemp to either backstab the rider with his dagger or simply throw the man off of the wyvern, whichever seems to hold the most likely chance of Blade gaining control of the wyvern in the shortest amount of time.

If/when Blade gains control of the mount, he will begin attacking the other wyver riders...flying straight at them...Sort of playing chicken with them, only in the air. Hopefeully they will chicken out and change their course, aborting their atatcks towarsds the tower. If it looks as if, they are not goinfg to chicken out, then Blade will try to duck below them at the last second, gutting the wyverns, with his dragonslayer sword as he flies beneaeth them . He is hoping that the dragonslayer may have an effect on the wyverens since they seem to be related to dragons in some way.

Humphrey emerges from the tower above and witnesses Blades ridiculous maneuver and laughs out loud. Embarrassed by his laughter, given the current situation, he looks around abrubtly and begins casting a spell. He utters the words "Efenda ema omfra issilesma," [he has cast protection from normal missiles upon himself. He then points his staff at the base of the front of the drawbridge [ at the shield] and casts dispel magic.

Ghotu reaches for his javelin and douses it with a flask of oil and ignites and throws it at the magic wall, to see its effect. (If any wyvern come with in range Ghotu will attempt to entangle in net and bring down in front of him 'you know the routine Pat')

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